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Seattle is one of my favorite cities in the world and I just flew back to town Tuesday night. Staying with a friend on Beacon Hill, she told me that I needed to check out The Station. Wednesday morning, bright and early, before we were to go out into the mayhem of the parade to celebrate the Seahawks Superbowl victory, I headed out to The Station to grab some coffee and a little something to eat. The Station is a small and very personable place where it seems that everyone knows each other. I was welcomed to share a table with a friendly group of people all celebrating the Seahawks victory, all but the humorous, curmudgeonly gentleman sitting across from me who couldn’t care less. It was like the Cheers of coffee houses, everyone really seemed to know everyone there.

Next Door isn’t your typical coffee-house. In fact, it really isn’t. It’s an experiment by State Farm to dive into the third place space by providing free, no-pressure seminars and coaching about personal finance topics; budgeting, insurance, and getting started with a business. These seminars take place in conference rooms and ‘IKEA-like’ portable ‘coaching cubes’ that can be moved around the space. There are seminars and classes put on by locals covering topics like health and wellness, yoga, poetry, blogging, and social media. This is not your everyday space. State Farm owns the space and anyone is welcome to come in and plop down on one of the sofa’s or community tables. There’s a coffee shop that rents space inside to provide coffee, tea, pastries, and crêpes. Continue reading →